


Cleaner

by fenfyre (Jace)



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Blood, Crack Relationships, Crossover, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, Gun Violence, Humiliation, M/M, Murder, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-01-13 05:45:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18462689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jace/pseuds/fenfyre
Summary: Jean thought the hardest part about working for Administrative Research would be the actual job. As it turned out, it was the colleagues. Or one colleague, specifically.





	1. Chapter 1

As long as Jean could remember he’d wanted to live the good life. And there simply was no place to live a better life than upper Midgar City. A metropolis with huge, shiny buildings, magnificent concert halls and theatres, modern museums showcasing the finest arts and restaurants serving their wealthy, elegantly dressed customers only the most exquisite masterpieces. All of it was overwhelming enough to make his innocent village boy eyes shine when he stepped off the train the very first time.  
  
Now, there was one obvious choice he could have made to ensure his survival in the big city.  
But unlike all the other boys and girls taking up the pilgrimage to the promised land of the rich and powerful Jean didn’t come here to join the military.  
  
He could have. He was young and healthy and strong, would have been fairly well off as a ShinRa Soldier. Only that he didn’t want _fairly well_.  
  
Besides, he wasn’t just young and healthy and strong, he was also cunning and ambitious, willing to do almost anything to earn his place. And there were other departments than defence that he could offer his talents to. Departments that didn’t just blindly take anyone willing to sign up to use as cannon fodder during the next conflict.  
  
No, if Jean was to sell his soul it had to be for the right price and to someone more willing to value the deal than some idiot commander in the habit of herding recruits like cattle. If Jean was to be faceless he’d choose to leave his face behind, not have it taken from him. He’d disappear in style.  
  
Of course one didn’t just apply to the Department of Administrative Research, not if one was a nobody from a backwater village with nothing but an intense affinity for technology to their name.  
But Jean was patient, he was in this for the long run. So he got a job at another branch of Public Safety. Less exciting, less reputable. Less lucrative.  
  
Good enough to start making a name for himself though and that was what he did for three long, boring years.  
  
They started approaching him after about fifteen months, trailing shady requests to hack into this system or get them through that firewall, to program certain spyware or decode encrypted files. Always slapping him with winded confidentiality agreements before even disclosing what they were after this time.  
  
Jean didn’t mind. He wouldn’t go around bragging about the secrets he found for them. He valued his life and his future too much for that.  
  
Then, after another eternity of waiting and complying, of building his reputation, Administrative Research went up in flames. There were a thousand rumours about what had happened to Veld, the former leader, and most of their forces. A lot of them were wild assumptions but Jean also heard things that could almost be true, given what he already knew thanks to his research assistance.  
It might have been a tragedy. But it also meant that positions were opening up.  
  
And when Tseng himself, now in charge of Administrative Research, visited Jean’s office one fine morning, he didn’t hesitate.  
  
The screening process was insane. But Jean didn’t have anything to hide and in the end they seemed to like the fact that he could grow a silver tongue when necessary and still hold himself just fine in a fight. In addition to the way he made even the most advanced security programs roll over for him, of course.  
  
Where he couldn’t impress with expertise they saw potential and what wasn’t quite there yet they said they could teach him.  
  
Maybe he was lucky. Or, more likely, they very desperate.  
  
The fact that the department was severely understaffed meant that the training he actually received was few and far between, interspersed with accompanying the veterans on actual missions that grew more and more serious the more often he took part in them.  
  
But Jean went into this with both eyes open. He knew it wasn’t the safest job in the world and besides, it turned out field work was the most practical training he could ask for. He got to know the exact kind of work that was expected of him, the skills he’d need to survive for longer than a few weeks and, most importantly, got a chance to assess his new colleagues and supervisors.  
  
Jean enjoyed working with Elena most. She was a little stiff and inexperienced herself but she was still a skilled Turk whose judgement he’d trust in every situation they encountered together. Besides, being the last addition to the department before he joined, she knew his situation and never hesitated to lend a helping hand. She was patient and kind even though it was obvious she had her own demons to wrestle.  
  
Tseng was impossible to judge. Always serious and cold, always in control, always giving short, sharp orders that Jean followed on pure instinct. He was the strictest person Jean had ever met and their current leader for a handful of very obvious reasons.  
  
It was easier to work with Rude, short-spoken and stone-faced as he was, Jean liked him enough. Even though the perpetual silence made him paranoid now and again.  
  
And then there was … well.  
  
After seven weeks at the department Jean still wasn’t sure what exactly to make of Reno. Which was strange enough in itself. Jean knew people, he was an excellent judge of character and had yet to run into a person he couldn’t connect to at all on a basic level.  
  
But after all this time the only thing Jean could be completely sure of was that Reno was dangerous.  
  
It wasn’t like the other Turks weren’t, that was a trait right out of the job description, after all. But Reno … there was something about him, something dark and violent hiding behind his sloppy, lazy attitude and goofy facade.  
  
He wouldn’t be the second in command of the planet’s most powerful intelligence agency if he actually were the careless idiot he wanted everyone to think he was.  
  
No, Reno could flirt with as many secretaries and screw up as many reports as he wanted, Jean had seen how he could get on a mission. How his eyes would flash when he reached for his weapon, how he’d grin maniacally while extracting information in the most brutal, inhumane ways imaginable.  
  
He knew that behind the winks and shitty jokes there was something unstable, something completely unhinged that could run rampant at a moment’s notice. Which was why Jean kept his distance, watching, thinking.  
  
It didn’t always work.  
  
“Who the fuck thought it’d be a good idea to give our rookie a damn gun?”, came the low drawl that made Jean’s blood freeze in his veins.  
  
He hadn’t heard anyone enter the shooting range which was weird in itself, the heavy metal doors weren’t exactly quiet. But that didn’t change the fact that a moment later the owner of that voice came to lean against the wall right next to him, arms crossed and shoulders slumped forward.  
  
Jean swallowed. The simple sneer having been enough to ignite an angry fire in his stomach. He was new but that didn’t mean he was useless, had survived a handful of missions that proved the point. But still, each time his competence was questioned he was dying to prove himself, to prove them wrong, prove that he belonged.  
  
So he pulled down his ear protectors, slammed the clip into the standard issue handgun and lined the small weapon up. Five shots in quick succession. He didn’t quite balance the recoil on the last two and missed the head of the target by a hair but the other three were perfect, right between the eyes.  
  
He put the gun down with a little smirk and pulled off the ear protectors.  
  
“I think I can handle a damn gun.”  
  
Reno didn’t even look at the target, studied Jean instead with an intensity that made his skin crawl.  
  
“Don’t get smug on me, of course you can handle a gun”, he scoffed after an uncomfortably long stretch of silence. Jean felt his brows furrow, a protest on the tip of his tongue when Reno continued:  
  
“Everyone can handle a fucking gun. But handling alone isn’t gonna cut it now, is it?”  
  
The furrow between Jean’s eyebrows only deepened as he grabbed the weapon again, clicking the safety back and on taking out the clip just to have something to do with his hands.  
  
He had no idea where Reno was going with this and then there was still that voice in the back of his mind, hissing at him to keep his guard up, the other Turk’s presence enough to make the hairs at the nape of his neck prickle upright.  
  
Reno pushed away from the wall with a long suffering sigh and a dramatic roll of his eyes, one of his hands coming down hard on Jean’s shoulder and a moment later it started steering him towards the doors.  
  
“Come, before you give yourself an aneurysm.”  
  
They stopped again in front of the gun cabinet, just before leaving the shooting range. Jean reached out to place the handgun back onto its place but Reno shook his head, pushing his hand back and reaching inside himself to retrieve a fresh clip and stuffing it into his pocket.  
  
Then they were on the way again, Jean’s eyes still lingering on the locker as he wondered why on earth he had not been allowed to put the gun away as protocol demanded when leaving the range. The breach of gun safety rules didn't make his stomach squirm as nervously as the fact that he had no idea what Reno was about to do him, though.  
  
They weren’t going far, just across the hall and into the gym that was empty this late at night. Jean had stayed longer, studying some files Tseng had told him to get familiar with just this afternoon, then decided some extra training on the shooting range couldn’t hurt, especially since all of his colleagues were already home and couldn’t judge him. Or so he thought.  
  
Reno stepped away from him as they entered the dark gym, reaching out to flick on the lights. The cool glow of fluorescent lamps soon washed over the shiny equipment, the lockers along the wall to their left. The open space where Jean had gotten his ass handed to him when sparring with the others more often than he’d like to admit, the open space they were heading for, apparently.  
  
When they came to a stop Jean shifted his weight, unsure what to do, where to turn to, why he was even here, while Reno shrugged off his rumpled suit jacket and nonchalantly flung it across the room towards a bench. It barely hit its mark before sliding off and falling onto the floor.  
  
Then Reno stuffed a hand into his pocket and held out the other toward Jean, who was eyeing him with a good amount of suspicion now. When he didn’t react Reno rolled his eyes, wiggling his fingers in a clear invitation.  
  
“Gun”, he prompted and Jean felt his eyes narrow once more but handed the weapon over after a moment of hesitation. Even Reno wasn’t unhinged enough to turn that weapon against him, right here in the gym.  
  
Was he?  
  
Watching the quick, practised way his superior slammed the clip into the gun and clicked the safety off made Jean wonder. But instead of staring right into the barrel a moment later Reno spun the gun around to offer it back to Jean, long, pale fingers wrapped around it like a gift.  
  
Jean hesitated. Reno didn’t want him to shoot anything in here, did he? That would be crazy, Tseng would have both their heads if he found out. Especially if they damaged any of the equipment. His heart skipped as he looked at the dark metal clutched between spindly fingers.  
  
“Take it.” The tone didn’t leave room for questions or refusal though, so Jean accepted the weapon, swallowing heavily. He just wouldn’t use it, Reno couldn’t make him. Right?  
  
Then his superior took a few steps away from him before slowly turning back around to face Jean, arms spread wide but grin wider.  
  
“Shoot me!”  
  
Jean blanched, lowering the gun and taking a careful step back. Reno followed, keeping the comfortable three paces between them.  
  
“Come on Rookie, trust me.”  
  
Ironically, those words made Jean trust the man even less and he huffed out a tense breath, careful to keep his fingers away from the trigger. Maybe he should just put the safety back in and stash the gun away? His hand already twitched but before he could dismantle the gun Reno rolled his eyes again, annoyance sparking in ocean blue. Annoyance and something else entirely. Challenge? Madness?  
  
“Wow, do you really think I’d let you kill me in here? How stupid do you think I am?”  
  
Despite the tense situation Jean felt his lips pull into a quick smirk but he had barely taken a breath to answer when Reno shook his head.  
  
”Wait, don’t answer that. I’m trying to prove a point here, alright? I’m wearing a bullet proof vest so just aim for the chest and I’ll be fine.”  
  
Pursing his lips slightly Jean regarded his superior a little more closely. As always he wasn’t wearing a tie, the first few buttons of his white shirt undone to reveal the dip of his pale collarbone. Jean couldn’t see the outlines of their standard vests shine through the thin material of the shirt but then again those vests were as thin and light as he had ever seen, leaving enough room for them to fight in while still protecting them from anything shy of a close up shotgun blast. It was incredible technology and it was very much possible Reno was wearing one of them. But…  
  
“I...”  
  
“Now, Kirschtein.”  
  
If the words before had been a polite suggestion this was an order, level and cold, his old surname tucked onto the single syllable just to prove a point. Jean’s body moved to obey the firm instruction on pure instinct, both hands coming up, the gun firmly grasped between them. He lined up the shot, aiming directly at Reno’s chest.  
  
Finger inching towards the trigger.  
  
But before he could even think of actually squeezing, before it was physically possible for his finger to obey the command that had gone to it with Reno’s cold order, Jean’s world was tilting, a harsh pain shooting through his right arm and his knees giving in. He was on the ground in a flash, kneeling right at Reno’s feet who had crossed the distance between them in a blur of red and white and torn the gun from between his slightly trembling fingers.  
  
Jean had barely registered just what had happened, mind still in a flurry when he heard a resounding, metallic click and the cool steel of a barrel was nudged against his temple. Just like that his world froze, vision narrowing down to the leather shoes on both sides of his knees.  
  
Reno was still holding his right arm pressed against his body, the touch hot even through the layers of their clothes but Jean didn’t have time to marvel at that, nor the fact that he could not feel the stiff press of a bullet proof vest against his arm.  
  
Instead all he felt was cold steel and the tight grip of a warm hand around his wrist.  
  
“Huh”, Reno huffed, body shaking slightly with the feigned surprise in his voice. “I thought you could handle a gun. Wasn’t that what you said earlier, Rookie?”  
  
As much as Jean would have loved to snarl some kind of answer, hot anger curling deep in his stomach, his mind wouldn’t work, his mouth dry and eyes wide at the unexpected ambush he should have seen coming from a mile away.  
  
Of course Reno had never planned to actually let him pull the trigger. But he had completely misjudged how damn fast the man could be.  
  
A nudge of the barrel against his flushed skin.  
  
“Wasn’t it?”, Reno prompted again and the unadulterated, arrogant joy in his voice made Jean snarl.  
  
But there was something else as well, something that had spiked in his blood the same time his system had been flooded with adrenaline, making him jittery, his skin running hot with darkly twisting arousal.  
  
Fuck, he had almost shot his superior before brutally being wrenched to his knees, a gun shoved to his head. He should not sport a half chub at the moment. But there he was, dick twitching and throat tight.  
  
A rough cry escaped him as Reno wrenched his wrist once and he cursed, body straining to get away from the tight grip that had his entire body taut, tension singing in his muscles. But he couldn’t move, couldn’t try to free himself, not with cold steel pressed against his temple, not with the way Reno’s finger twitched across the trigger now and again.  
  
“Shit, I get it, okay?”, he hissed, unable to pull away. The other Turk probably got off on this just as much as Jean, shamefully, did. Torturing the people at his mercy seemed to be a speciality of his and Jean tried hard not to think about the way piercing blue must have sparked down at him like he was just another target.  
  
Another long, breathless moment and then Reno finally let go of him and stepped back. Jean watched his superior disassemble the gun and put it down on a nearby bench as he stumbled to his feet, rubbing his sore wrist.  
  
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad you can shoot if you don’t even get to pull the trigger. Sure, it’s a handy skill and I guess you don’t suck completely. But a lot of the people we’re sent after know their way around guns as well so I always like to throw something their way that they’re not as prepared for, you know?"  
  
The weapons locker of the gym was just a few paces away and Reno stepped over to it almost casually, unlocking it with a swipe of his finger. Jean shifted his weight and willed his damn dick to calm down. These stupid uniform dress pants didn’t really hide anything and he wasn’t keen on Reno turning around to the sight of a suspicious bulge between his legs. Not that he really doubted Reno had missed it earlier. Not that he really doubted Reno had ever missed a crucial detail like that in his life.  
  
Why now? Why with him? Jean had never reacted like this while sparring with any of the others, not even when Elena had wrapped her killer thighs around his head and slammed him into the ground without breaking a sweat. But a few quick steps and that damn, unfair twist of his wrist and he was throbbing? Pathetic.  
  
When Reno turned back around to him he held one of the electro magnetic rods in one hand and there was a wild, knowing spark in his eyes as his gaze flicked up and down Jean's body. Assessing, analysing. For a hot second Jean wished the man had pulled the trigger and spared him the humiliation.  
  
But instead of commenting directly on Jean’s predicament he simply continued.  
  
“You know what my favourite toy is, even though this EMR doesn’t have quite the modifications I gave my personal one.”  
  
Long, pale fingers wrapped around the dark, metallic shaft and slid down to the base, Reno’s tongue peeking out from between sharp teeth, his eyes glinting with smug mischief. Then he shifted his grip and activated the weapon that whirred to life with a faint electric crackle.  
  
Jean sucked in a shallow breath, trying to think hard about how his brains would look splattered across the gym floor, anything to keep his blood from boiling over.  
  
“But...”, Reno continued, voice a low drawl as he let his gaze flick up and down Jean’s frame again. “You’re not the type for it.” With that he turned the rod off again and placed it back into the locker, mumbling to himself. “You need something ... cleaner. Let’s see ... not too strong, are you?”  
  
“Hey!”  
  
“But flexible, I bet. Fast. Not as fast as me but, heh ... we don’t wanna set the bar too high now, do we?”  
  
Reno studied the contents of the locker as he spoke, voice thrown back from the metal and sounding a little tinny as he leaned deeper into it. The next he thing he said Jean couldn’t really understand, only that it started with a low “I wonder...”  
  
At least now that his superior was all but crawling into the weapons locker looking for whatever it was he had in mind Jean had a quiet moment to catch his breath and will down his insistent half boner. This was stupid and probably a waste of time. He already knew that he wasn’t the best fighter, that was not why they had taken him on. But he had improved, his shooting as well as his hand to hand skills, and he would get even better with more time. Forcing it now with some kind of spontaneous tutoring session wouldn’t help him much in the long run.  
  
There was no sense in Reno showing him how inferior he still was at all this by overpowering him, that was a given and Jean had never expected anything else. So why was he doing it then? To humiliate Jean? That actually didn’t sound too unlikely, given what he knew about the man.  
  
When Reno emerged from the locker he was holding something Jean couldn’t quite make out, two small objects nestled into his palms.  
  
“So I’ve seen you spar with Elena a lot. Her hand to hand style is pretty acrobatic and I guess that suits you as well. But if you want to learn some of her tricks you need weapons that don’t get in the way of that.”  
  
There was nothing left of the teasing spark, the smug heat in Reno’s voice as he joined Jean again. Instead he was controlled, sounded factual, his voice even as he showed off the small objects.  
  
They were two simple, cylindrical shapes of smooth, dark metal, just about as long as his palm was wide. For a moment Jean didn’t quite understand what about those warranted them to be stored with the other weapons in the locker. Sure, they could be used to cause damage, a blunt hit with the edges would probably be effective if dealt to the right areas. But a lot of other, everyday objects could be used for that as well.  
  
Then Reno closed his fingers around the objects again and with a little, metallic clicking noise two thin, sharp blades flicked out of both ends, glinting in the cold, fluorescent light as Reno turned his hands to show them off.  
  
They were daggers, all four blades double edged and deadly. There were probably many clever ways to use weapons as these, or at least Jean expected to be about as versatile in a fight as they looked right now between Reno's fingers.  
  
“They can be programmed to respond to your fingerprints so they can’t be used against you by just anyone able to take them from you. Also got a Materia slot each, if you wanna get fancy. In that case I'd recommend healing and maybe some kind of enhancer? To give you a little extra edge...”  
  
Materia. Jean had never gotten to use those before. Of course he had seen Tseng or Elena make use of some when he accompanied them during missions but he didn’t have the clearance himself to actually carry one of his own. And now Reno wanted to potentially equip him with two?  
  
Before he could think further on those implications Reno opened his hands again and the blades flicked back into the handles, turning them into completely unassuming tubes of metal.  
  
“Can I ... try those?”, he asked, fingers already itching to wrap around the intriguing weapons and learn to wield them. Reno huffed a dry laugh.  
  
“No, idiot. I got them from the very back of that stinking locker just to brag about what cool shit we got down here. Of course I want you to try them. In fact...”  
  
Reno paused as he handed over the daggers, watching closely as Jean accepted them with careful hands, unsure what exactly would cause the blades to slide out again until he adjusted his grip and squeezed the handles slightly, enjoying the feeling of smooth metal gliding out.  
  
“...wanna give those babies a real spin?”  
  
~  
  
Jean had sparred with Reno before, once or twice. He had come to learn that his superior liked to play dirty and was able to get Jean’s ass pinned to the ground quicker than anyone else of his colleagues ever had. Not even Tseng with his precise swipes and near deadly pressure point exploitation.  
  
So Reno had always known just how to handle him, just where to shove and grab and pull to get him to his knees. And that had been before they were both wielding weapons. How he expected Jean to ever even stand a chance against him fully armed Jean didn’t know but he still couldn’t back down from the fight.  
  
Not when after he’d asked if they might want to start with dull training weapons his superior had snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes, reaching for the standard mag rod in the locker and tapping it against his palm experimentally a few times.  
  
Jean didn’t know what kind of modifications made Reno’s personal equipment so different but if he was being honest with himself he didn’t really want to know. Besides, he was sure Reno could do devastating damage with the standard issue as well.  
  
There seemed to be some kind of mercy left in the older Turk though because he never switched the rod on, even when Jean flicked out the blades of his new daggers with barely shaking fingers. He probably didn’t plan to get stabbed, just like he’d never planned to get shot earlier.  
  
As expected Jean landed on his ass just about twenty seconds into the first round, Reno having kicked the dagger from his dominant hand and then flipped him over and onto his back with a well timed pull and the unyielding EMR jammed into the backs of his knees.  
  
“See, it’s better if they close automatically”, Reno drawled with a smug grin, then kicked the little, blade-less cylinder back over to where Jean was still lying, wheezing laboured breaths after landing hard on his back, white spots dancing across his vision before slowly disappearing. As expected, Reno did not need his weapon at its deadliest to slam him into the ground. And also as expected, Jean hadn’t even come close to stabbing or slicing anything himself. That the blade hadn’t gotten buried in his own hand when Reno had kicked it away was the only thing that went remotely positive for him during the last, blurry minute.  
  
Pushing himself upright he grumbled an annoyed “Yeah yeah, try that again” as he stumbled to his feet. Reno did not help him up. But he sent him back down about fifteen seconds later.  
  
It took a while, an endless amount of muttered curses and insults and quite a few taunting sneers, but with time their matches started getting longer and just a bit more level as Jean started figuring out how to block and dodge and evade some of Reno’s attacks, how to move to counter the kicks and punches and hits with the weapon.  
  
Reno was fast, that much was clear. But the longer they were facing each other down the more Jean started to decipher the few tells he could make out. How Reno would shift his weight ever so subtly before attacking, how his eyes would sometimes flash and stray towards wherever he planned for his next blow to land.  
  
Of course that still didn’t make them evenly matched and Jean still landed on his ass every single time, sometimes with his arm wrenched behind his back, sometimes with a dress shoe coming down on his chest, but there was still progress. Or at least that was what he liked to think.  
  
Where he had started out unsteady and unsure, unwilling to use the new weapons he had been handed in any impactful way he started to loose his inhibitions the more Reno teased him with that manic grin that only ever meant trouble. The fact that he never even managed to so much as nick his superior with any of the sharp blades let him get even more reckless, even more determined to at least get in one good match among the many he’d lost.  
  
So when he finally countered one of Reno’s quick blows successfully and was fast enough to turn the fight around with a precise counter attack that swept Reno off his feet and sent him crashing into the ground Jean didn’t hesitate to pounce on him with his full weight and jab towards his throat.  
  
Of course Reno blocked him, threw up his arm just in time before Jean could do any lasting damage, but the tremble in his muscles, the raw strength he had to use to hold Jean’s attack back, was more satisfying than anything Jean had ever experienced during a sparring match with his colleagues.“Fuck, look at that”, Reno drawled, lips curved into a distantly fascinated, amused smirk. “Puppy’s got teeth after all!”  
  
His body fell lax below Jean’s, breath shuddering out of him in a giddy laugh and fuck, why did he have to look so good like that? Flushed with exertion after they had been sparring for Gaia knew how long, elegant limbs splayed out and hair only slightly dishevelled with a few red strands falling out of that damn ponytail…  
  
Jean swallowed, eyes flicking down to temptingly pink collarbones and that was a mistake. Because the next moment Reno’s body snapped back into action as his hand shot up and tangled in Jean’s hair, yanking his head back as he rolled them over and came to kneel with his legs spread obscenely wide across Jean’s torso.  
  
He grabbed Jean’s hand, still wrapped around the dagger, and yanked it forward until Jean could feel the cool kiss of a blade against his own throat. The touch made his blood run hot but what really made his dick twitch was the look in Reno’s eyes as he stared down at him. Like he wouldn’t hesitate to complete the motion and draw a searing, deadly line across Jean’s neck, leaving him here to bleed out on the gym floor.  
  
“That wasn't half bad”, the man nodded and gently pushed Jean’s trembling hand to the side, made the cool steel slide along his skin without ever slicing into it, a playful homage to murder. Jean’s breath stuttered to a halt, skin hot and tingling and too tight.  
  
“You gotta attack like you mean it. But you really shouldn’t stop before it’s over if you don’t want the fight to take a nasty turn. So next time you got someone on their back like that ... you better fucking finish them.”  
  
Jean swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing against the cool, hard scratch of the blade that left a faint burning sensations in its wake.  
  
The way Reno still looked at him with that manic grin and the feral flash in his eyes made Jean tremble more than the exhaustion, more than the lack of oxygen burning in his lungs, head spinning with a heady mix of shameful arousal, misplaced need and utter terror.  
  
When he had quietly classified Reno as dangerous, as unreadable and unhinged and utterly insane, he never would have expected he would come to see his life threatened by that very man and ... enjoy it. Not the way he did, anyway. With a heat coursing through his veins that had nothing to do with the exhausting, stimulating thrill of a good fight and everything with the way Reno smirked as he shifted the cold steel against his skin.  
  
He didn’t know for how long he was lying there, all but burning up under his superior’s heavy body and deadly blade, forced to endure the utter torture of stillness, but after half an eternity Reno moved to stand and finally allowed Jean to do the same.  
  
He still didn’t reach out to help Jean to his feet but that was alright, to be expected, as he strolled over to where his suit jacket had slipped off the bench and picked it up, mag rod dangling from his wrist at the sturdy strap at the end of the grip.  
  
Climbing back to his feet and enjoying the feeling of finally being able to breathe again Jean watched his superior finger a battered pack of cigarettes out of the inside pocket of his jacket. Elegant fingers pulled one out and gently, almost lovingly tucked the filter between pale lips, then went for the lighter stuffed into the half empty packet to light it.  
  
Jean knew that smoking was prohibited down here but he didn’t say anything about it, deciding to ignore Reno for now and instead go for the weapons locker. He spotted similar cylinders to the ones he had been armed with at the very back and placed the weapons he had grown strangely fond of back besides them on two empty brackets.  
  
He rolled his shoulders, feeling exhausted but enjoying the insistent burn in his muscles that came with a successful workout. Even though his uniform felt uncomfortable like this, sweat cooling against the stiff fabric that clung to him in strange and unfamiliar ways now. He should have gotten changed into something more viable to break a sweat in, but then again Reno hadn’t either. Neither did they before taking on missions where they were bound to get sweaty as well. So maybe this had actually been a pretty decent training for field work?  
  
“Just so I'm perfectly clear”, came Reno’s voice from behind him, words muffled just a bit by the cigarette between his lips. Jean turned around to face him again, skin still tight and blood still running to hot. Especially when his superior was much closer than expected, much closer than he had sounded just a moment ago. The tip of his cigarette was glowing faintly, a spot of heat in the coldness of the harsh gym lighting and Jean breathed in the sharp scent of tobacco, barely avoiding a cough when the man inhaled and made the small, red dot flare brighter for a moment.  
  
“I’m not doing this because I care if you live or die out there."  
  
Long fingers reached up to pull the cigarette from between his lips, pale smoke pouring out with every syllable. Jean should have been offended by that, should have scoffed and rolled his eyes and maybe turned around to slam the locker door shut because of course something like that had to come at the end of all of this. Of course this was never supposed to be an actual teaching moment, a sign of camaraderie and mentorship, not initiated by Reno of all people, not like that. No matter how it had felt like just that underneath all the taunts and insane commands and sneers.  
  
But he didn’t do any of those things. Instead he found himself strangely transfixed by the subtle movement of those lips, the lopsided smirk, the tip of a pink tongue flicking out for just a moment.  
  
“I’m doing this because I need you to have my back out there and I don’t trust you to shoot a gun around my head, understand? So don’t pull any triggers tomorrow, be careful not to stab me and we’ll be just fine.”  
  
That should have definitely been the point for Jean to protest, to assure Reno that no matter how fresh faced he was, he would be able to avoid shooting his own superior. But there had been this one little word that rang strangely in his ears and his eyes flicked up from Reno’s lips to his eyes, the spell finally broken.  
  
“Tomorrow?”, he asked, brows furrowed as he watched Reno blink and then, slowly, grin.  
  
“Oh yeah, there was that minor detail...”  
  
Another slow, languid step towards him until Reno was standing right in front of him, close enough that Jean had to look up, grinding his teeth. A low, smoky laugh that made Jean’s stomach turn and his heart tremble.  
  
“You’re mine tomorrow, Rookie. We’re going on an adventure.”  
  
Jean felt his breath stutter when Reno reached out, deep blue eyes sparking with amusement, and he expected a push or at least a brush of fingers, something, anything. But instead Reno reached out to the locker behind him and placed the EMR back inside, then turned away without even looking at Jean a second time.  
  
“Briefing tomorrow at 0900”, he declared, stuffing the cigarette back between his lips and petting down his pockets, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Then he left the gym, heavy metal doors slamming shut behind him and leaving an eerie stillness in his wake.  
  
Jean closed his eyes and let out a slow, controlled breath. Silently counted to twenty. And then released a single shout of pent up frustration.  
  
He had been so very right with his initial assessment. Reno was dangerous. In many more ways than Jean had expected.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning came too quickly after his late night at the gym but Jean still managed to drag himself to the conference room on time, clutching a cheap mug with a ShinRa logo print that was filled to the very brim was a healthy dose of black coffee. He would have appreciated learning about today’s plans in advance, maybe then he wouldn’t have stayed so long after work to practise yesterday. Neither would he have been ambushed by Reno or had to jerk off furiously in the shower afterwards.  
  
But such was life and Jean supposed he just had to deal with it like an adult. Namely by sucking it up and not pissing off any of his superiors by demanding to know why the hell he hadn’t been told about this before.   
  
“Ah, Jean”, Tseng nodded at him, already inside the room when Jean pushed the door open and walked inside, trying not to look like a brainlessly shuffling zombie.   
  
“I see Reno managed to relay the notice about our early meeting.”   
  
For a moment Jean halted in his steps, eyes narrowing slightly. Of course. Of course it hadn’t been an oversight on Tseng’s part. Of course Reno had been supposed to inform him. Of fucking course.  
  
After a moment of silent, exasperated frustration he still decided that it would be better to ignore the issue and headed for one of the chairs close to Tseng, settling down for what he hoped would be a short wait. As much as he could appreciate Tseng’s guidance and professionalism, it was still weird to be alone with him for an extended period of time, especially if all they had to do during that time was wait.   
  
Thankfully his boss wasn’t much into small talk and so they skipped the awkward attempts at conversation and came right to the awkward stretch of silence while Tseng flipped through the folders on the table in front of them. Reno recognized the documents he could catch glimpses of as the reports he had been supposed to read up on yesterday. Insider information on a warehouse just outside of Junon where Avalanche stored a considerable amount of stolen weaponry.   
  
One of the rebels they had caught during the last strike had finally broken after days under Reno’s “care” and supplied them with everything they needed to take out the considerable threat while dealing a heavy blow to their enemies. Jean had allowed himself to skip over most of the reports about how Reno had gotten that information, knowing that it was the tame version for the official documents anyway and that he was better off not knowing exactly what had gone down in interrogation room number four.   
  
Jean’s cup of coffee was more than half empty when the door opened again and Reno strode inside, uniform rumpled but hair elegantly, purposefully dishevelled, his reflecting goggles shoved up onto his head. He looked like he’d spent the night in an alley. Or some poor idiot’s bed.   
  
“Morning”, he drawled, still chewing on something before he swallowed and threw Jean a confusing wink, then plopped down on a chair opposite from him.   
  
“Reno.” Despite the neutral tone Jean could feel the exasperation rolling off of Tseng in waves and could empathize easily, even though it wasn’t his place to comment on the delay. “You're thirteen minutes late.”   
  
“I know. Had to give good old Eugene downstairs a goodbye kiss. Remind him what happens if we get there today and any of what he told us turns out to be bad intel.”  
  
With a quiet sigh Tseng seemed to let the transgression go and instead turned his attention to Reno’s words.  
  
“How did he take it?”  
  
A crooked, almost lecherous grin that made the hairs at the nape of Jean’s neck prickle upright with an immediate sense of danger. He really, really didn’t want to know what Reno had been doing many stories below them while they were waiting.  
  
“Should have seen him, he almost pissed himself. I think we're good to go.”  
  
Tseng acknowledged the words with a simple, curt nod and flipped back to the front of his folder, pushing one towards Jean and one towards Reno.  
  
“You should both already be familiar with this information so I will be brief. We have to strike fast if we want to fully capitalize on the intel so the two of you will be heading out for Junon today and take down the warehouse tonight. I know this is a tight schedule but I trust you will be capable to carry out the mission before Avalanche can prepare for an attack.”  
  
“Understood”, Jean nodded as he flipped through the folder pushed in his direction. Aside from the reports he had already been familiar with he found some recent satellite images that showed the site of their new mission. Some lone barn standing in the middle of a relatively open field, one dusty, lonely road leading up to it. The place didn’t look like much and even though he was sure the security would be better than these pictures made believe, he was even more confident they would carry out their mission without any major troubles.  
  
Behind the satellite pictures were some more files that were unfamiliar to him, head shots of several people accompanied by short descriptions.  
  
“Those are the individuals who you, according to the information provided by our captive, might encounter. He has given us information about them being charged with guarding the building and handling the arrival of new ... wares. Do not engage with any of them if not completely necessary. Destroying the arsenal has top priority.”  
  
“Yes, Sir.”  
  
Reno, however, was not as easily convinced to agree.  
  
“You don't want us to at least rough them up a little? I mean, they are wanted criminals working for a terrorist organization. Technically. Maybe they should learn a lesson about what happens when you run off and break the law.”  
  
As low and casual as the low drawl of Reno’s voice sounded, his eyes were sharp and alert as he kept scanning the files, like he was taking in every last bit of information about the people they might encounter on their trip. Jean was doing the same, of course, committing their faces and anything else Tseng had been able to dig up about them in just a night to memory.  
  
Most of them looked like completely ordinary people, like mothers and fathers and neighbours. Not like members of a terrorist group bent on taking down their government based on nothing but shiny ideals and a love of trees. Jean could pass most of them on the street and not even notice or think about them for more than a second. Or at least that was the case for all but one of them, a young man that seemed to be about his age, dark hair and a mostly attractive face, nothing extraordinary about him if it hadn’t been for the rage of about a billion sun burning in his eyes. Yes, that was the type of guy Jean could see joining Avalance. All of the others were more of an annoying surprise than anything.  
  
“That won’t be necessary. This is a purely tactical operation, the goal is to destroy their weapons, not decimate their numbers. We do not want to provoke some sort of retaliation at this point.”  
  
Where Jean would have expected Reno to protest and at least try and convince Tseng to let him have some fun with whatever Avalanche members they encountered, Reno simply shrugged and nodded, humming an agreeable noise. Would he ever stop confusing Jean?  
  
But then again, he had noticed before that Reno wasn’t simply an aimlessly violent maniac. Yes, he could be unpredictable and horrifying, but never without cause or direction. Even though cause and direction couldn’t always count as truly sane. No matter how terrifyingly efficient he was at torturing information out of people or cleaning up whoever it was that Shinra wanted them to get rid off, he never did so without purpose. Or at least not to Jean’s knowledge.   
  
“So an easy get in, blow shit up, get out mission. Nice. Anything else we should know?”  
“Yes”, Tseng nodded as he pulled out one of the satellite images that had also been inside their folders. “The building might not look like much but our guest has assured us that it is surprisingly secure. Planting detonators on the outside will not even damage it enough to annoy Avalanche so you will have to break through the installed systems to get inside and place the explosives at the marked locations.”  
  
Another picture, this one a realistic rendering of what the warehouse would look from the inside. It was some nice work and Jean momentarily got lost in the details drafted into the picture before he nodded quickly.  
  
“That won’t be a problem. I’ve seen the systems Avalanche uses, they just don’t have the resources to keep anything but a toddler out. I probably won’t even need my whole field kit.”  
  
Tseng nodded, satisfied to take his word for it. That was what they had mainly brought him on for, after all. To get them into wherever they needed to be to do their jobs. He was more than happy with that role, even if it meant he got to spend a mission with Reno.  
  
“Oh, another thing", Reno chipped in after they had lapsed into silence for a moment. “I want the rookie cleared for Materia use.”  
  
No reasons or further explanations given, just the plain statement. It sounded laughable to Jean’s ears, that he would be granted these kinds of privileges simply because Reno wanted him to have them, no matter how inexperienced and under-qualified he probably was.   
  
But Tseng honestly seemed to consider it and then, after a long pause of deliberation, nodded.  
  
“I will authorize it. We might not expect you to run into any trouble during this but that does not mean you will not find yourself in some kind of tight spot. Level One should suffice for now, though.”  
  
A casual nod from Reno.  
  
“Sounds good.”   
  
But no matter how thrilled part of Jean was to be granted this kind of permission, another part of him was a little bit terrified.  
  
“Do I, uh ... don’t I need some training to use them or something? I mean I've never...”  
  
Where he had expected some stern lecture about the dangers of Materia use and the implications wielding them he was only met with a slight, but almost fond smile on Tseng’s face. The sight was so jarring he felt himself physically recline.  
  
“Let me assure you”, his superior said, something almost amused in his voice, “the utilisation is most instinctive.”  
  
What kind of cryptic bullshit even was that? Jean was used to these kinds of answers from Elena, when she was smugly waiting for him to fall for a prank or trap, even from Rude who was just so damn quiet all the time that even the few words he did say almost always confused Jean more than clear anything up. Reno was more likely than anyone else to tease him about things he didn’t know anyway so to hear this from Tseng of all people was just ... strange.  
  
Was there something about Materia usage that he hadn’t thought of or known before? It didn’t look like there was whenever he watched his colleagues do it…  
  
“O...kay.”  
  
“Now get your equipment together, you will leave at 1200. There are hotel rooms booked for you in Junon from where you can prepare the operation and a car that will be at your disposal during your stay. I expect you to report back to me within two hours of completing the mission, then I will receive your written statements the day after tomorrow at the latest, given everything goes according to plan. Any further questions?”  
  
“Yeah...”, Reno drawled, casually flipping his folder shut and stretching his arms over his head, folding his hands in his neck as he leaned back like he were lounging in some spa, not stuck in a stuffy conference room. “Junon’s nice around this time of year ... can I borrow a bottle of sunscreen from you? I forgot to pick some up at the drug store this morning…”  
  
Tseng didn’t even blink as he collected his own documents and closed his folder.  
  
“Dismissed.”  
  
~  
  
“So ... that was weird”, Jean hummed as they were on their way to pick up the equipment provided to them. Most of what they’d need was already in their possession, Reno never went without his very personal EMR and Jean had set up his own kit of devices he needed to hack into security systems and all kinds of other useful things while they were away on missions. He didn’t think he would need anything else but of course Reno had grabbed his arm and told him to tag along as he headed down into the tech department Jean was so familiar with.   
  
“What exactly?”, Reno asked as they stepped into the glass elevator, making use of the reflective surfaces to run a hand through his hair and right the askew goggles on his forehead.   
  
“The way Tseng talked about Materia? You didn’t think that was weird?"  
  
A grin not unlike Tseng’s earlier expression crept onto Reno’s thin lips but now it looked much more mocking than it ever could on Tseng’s dignified face.  
  
“That’s because you don’t need training for Materia. They come straight from the planet and are connected to your life essence or whatever. It’s like smelling flowers or watching a thunder storm, you just know what to do with em all on your own.  
  
“So why the creepy grin?”  
  
Reno shot him a very unimpressed look and Jean shrugged, barely able to keep from crossing his arms in some kind of defensive move.   
  
“It’s not creepy. And you'll learn soon enough. Maybe tonight, if nothing goes well, how about that?”  
  
Before Jean could think of a fitting reply and try to dig deeper the elevator came to a halt and Reno strolled out, not covering much ground before he stopped in front of an office. Inside was a tiny bald guy Jean had come to know rather well during his time in this department. But Reno greeted him like an old friend as well.  
  
Hey Connie, what’s up?”, he called out as he strolled into the office like it belonged to him, easily flopping down on one of the chairs in front of Connie’s desk. The short man looked up, his eyes flicking to the side to a small metal box waiting on his desk.  
  
“Hi Reno...”, he mumbled, not sounding entirely comfortable. The troubled expression on his face lessened at least a little as he looked up at Jean who was still hovering in the doorway, watching the scene play out. “Oh, hey Jean!”  
  
His former colleague didn't seem to be too trusting towards Reno either but whether that was because of the general reputation Turks enjoyed on the lower floors or if it was because he knew the man well enough to assume what kind of psychopath he really was behind his jokes and casual behaviour, Jean couldn’t tell.   
  
“Hey Connie.”  
  
Stepping into the office Jean closed the door behind them on pure instinct. Whatever Reno had come here for probably shouldn’t leave the room if he remembered the kind of business they did with the tech department well enough.  
  
“So, did you do the thing I asked you to?”, Reno smirked, his eyes landing on the small metal box as well. Jean took a step closer to the desk but couldn’t remember having seen a box like that before. Or maybe he had, the thing was nondescript enough to not remember much about it either way.  
  
“If it’s for Jean he could have done it himself", Connie grumbled, reaching out to grab the box and open the latches. “But yeah, I did. Even though you didn’t give me a lot of time.”  
  
Before Jean could say anything, maybe apologize for not doing whatever task Reno had the man complete himself, Reno shrugged.  
  
“Maybe he’ll improve on your design later. Just let me see how far you got.”  
  
Jean blinked as the lid was opened, immediately recognizing the two cylinders of dark metal that sat inside on a little holder. These were the daggers Reno had given him yesterday, or at least some kind of very similar model.  
  
“I programmed them to react to his fingerprints only, as you requested. At the press of this button”, Connie picked up one of the blades and showed off an inconspicuous button in simple black about where Jean’s fingers would be situated, “an electric current is sent through both blades, so you don’t need any Materia for that anymore. It doesn’t have a very high voltage yet but you can tweak that however you like within reason, I just installed the function itself.”  
  
Reno nodded, obviously pleased at the news.  
  
“Very nice. Just what these babies needed.”  
  
“I think your obsession with electrocution is a little unhealthy”, Jean grumbled, even though he had to admit that he quite admired the modifications Connie had given his new weapons. As small and unassuming as they were in their dormant state as beautiful could they be when wielded just right. Was it wrong that he kind of hoped he would get to use them now?  
  
“Just thought it suits you, Rookie”, Reno shrugged, then got up just as casually as he had plopped down, plucking the dagger from between Connie’s fingers and setting it back into the box next to the other one before snapping the lid shut and grabbing it from the desk.  
  
“Thanks Connie. And give my regards to Sasha, will you?”, he grinned before sauntering out of the room, leaving Connie a little more pale than he had been a moment ago. Jean swallowed, shifted his weight.  
  
“Hey man, I uh ... I'm sorry about...”  
  
“Don’t”, his former colleague said, voice tight as he turned back to his monitor without even looking at Jean. “Just don't die, alright?”  
  
“No promises”, he chuckled but the laugh sounded forced and wrong. What he wouldn’t give to go out for a beer with Connie like they had countless times before. Talk about what the hell had happened to them after Jean had switched departments, what the hell had happened to Connie. If something had happened at all.  
  
“And don’t ... don’t let him do to you ... whatever he does to people...”  
  
Now that was a cryptic request if Jean had ever heard one. There was definitely a story there, one that probably involved Reno and Connie as well as Connie’s fiancée Sasha but Jean had no idea how to ask for that story, let alone if there was even the slightest chance of his old colleague actually answering him if he did.  
  
So he just gave a tense, quick nod that Connie didn’t look up to see and left the office with a confused little frown. Wondering what exactly it was that Reno ... did to people.  
  
~  
  
Between picking up the rest of the provided equipment and packing whatever they needed from their offices the hours until noon passed quickly and before Jean knew it he was standing on the helipad, heavy messenger bag slung over his shoulder and backpack containing his field kit weighing him down a little, his hair in complete disarray from the whirring rotor blades above his head. He ducked into the cockpit and wasn’t surprised to find Reno in the pilot’s seat, headset already pulled over his ears, idly flicking on switches and pressing buttons Jean had no idea how to work.  
  
He had been suspecting that Reno would be the one to get them to Junon, after all they wouldn’t need the help of an external pilot who might just be a liability if there was a perfectly capable pilot on their team already. Cramming his luggage into the storage compartments Jean readied himself for take-off, finally plopping down in one of the additional seats and strapping in before reaching for his own headset.  
  
He had barely adjusted it to sit correctly when he heard Reno crooning into his ear, voice accompanied by a signature static:  
  
"Welcome aboard, Puppy. I hope you’ll enjoy your flight with me today. Estimated travel time should be about two hours, the weather is wonderful and Junon will welcome us with sunshine and a toasty 28 degrees this afternoon.”  
  
Jean rolled his eyes at the smooth welcome but still couldn’t keep an amused grin from creeping onto his lips at the perfect recreation of the way Shinra was greeted by his pilots for official travels.  
  
The words were juxtaposed with Reno’s own grin as he finished his preparations and closed the helicopter doors with the press of a button. A few minutes later they had taken off and were on their way to Junon.  
  
~  
  
After about ten minutes Jean started to regret having stored all of his luggage away and not taking out the book he had packed to keep himself entertained. So to stave off the quickly settling boredom when Reno didn’t turn out as chatty as he usually was, Jean tried enjoying the view.   
  
But his eyes were soon drifting away from the fields and forests and villages below and trailing over to the way pale, elegant fingers handling the controls, wrapped around the control column and working the collective. Jean caught himself, again and again, as his gaze flicked up to the concentrated expression on a dangerously, traitorously pretty face. He only hated himself a little for it.  
  
~  
  
The landing was smooth and punctual and they left the helicopter on the hotel’s helipad as they headed down to check in. There were two rooms provided for them and Jean was happy to stash away his luggage in relative peace before Reno came knocking on his door. But instead of wanting to prepare for the mission as Jean would have expected, he seemed to have other plans.  
  
“So, ready for a trip to the beach? I hope you packed some swim trunks but a lot of the locals like to go naked anyway so...”  
  
“Wait...”, Jean interrupted, eyebrows drawn together as he watched his superior stroll into his room and peek out of the window onto the balcony they shared. The beautiful view of Junon did indeed end in the equally beautiful view of the beach and the crystal waters way below them. A tempting sight. But Jean couldn’t allow it to tempt him right now.  
  
“You want to go on a beach trip? Hours before we have to leave for our mission?”, he asked, only slightly exasperated. As much as he could understand the impulse, Junon did seem to be a lovely city and Jean would love to explore it, seeing as it was his first visit, but they had a job to do.  
  
Reno blinked at him, utterly unimpressed.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“And you really think that’s the best way to spend our time?" Jean felt like some kind of scolding mother as he said it but there was no way he would be able to relax at the beach right now, not when he was way too anxious about getting to go out into the field again.  
  
He had done similar missions before but it was still a rush to him each time, a heady mix of horrible fear of fucking up and, possibly, dying as a result and actually proving his worth as a Turk and gaining a bit more respect from his colleagues for doing a good job. Sometimes the feeling still left him dizzy.   
  
So nobody, not even Reno, could yank him out of his preparations for the mission. Maybe one day, when he was a veteran like the others and had done this more often than he could count, he would be able to relax and enjoy himself hours before going into the field, but right now he had to focus and prepare so he wouldn’t fuck up and end up literally dying.  
  
“You’re no fun”, Reno grumbled after a moment and stepped back from the window. “What are your plans, then? Wanna read those files for the hundredth time like a good little rookie?”  
  
The taunt didn’t quite work. Jean was already more than familiar with his folder, had gone over it again and again until he knew the contents by heart. He had all the intel available for this mission memorized and he trusted his own ability to prepare for what they were about to do. No, he knew everything he needed to know. But there were other things left to take care of.  
  
“I actually wanted to take a look at the configurations Connie worked on for the daggers. He probably did a good job but I want to check out what exactly he programmed and if I can tweak his code a bit more.”  
  
The look on Reno’s face was almost pleased as his colleague nodded slowly, eyes gliding across the halfway unpacked field kit spread out on the desk.  
  
“Alright”, he nodded, accepting Jean’s plans without further questions. But instead of disappearing to go on his beach trip alone like Jean had suspected he would, he took a step over to the bed and flopped down on it, limbs splaying out and eyes sliding shut. When Jean didn’t really know how to react Reno gave a lazy wave towards the desk, eyes still closed.  
  
“Go on, don't let me distract you.”  
  
It was strange, sitting down for work while Reno was sprawled out on his bed right behind him, apparently preparing to take a nap. And Jean got it, they both couldn’t have caught a lot of sleep the night before and piloting a helicopter sure wasn’t the most relaxing thing, he understood why Reno would want some rest before they headed out tonight. But just a moment before he’d been talking about a beach trip and if he wanted to catch up on sleep, why couldn’t he do it in his own room?  
  
But even if Jean bothered to ask, he knew he wouldn’t get anything even close to a straight answer, so he just sighed silently as he switched on his laptop, resigned to his fate of working with a snoring Reno in his back.  
  
Connie’s configurations were elegant, getting the most out of the weapon’s meagre inner workings. The electricity switch was an interesting touch and Jean liked the idea of being the only one able to open the blades. Reno was right, that way at least the weapon couldn’t be turned against him should he drop it during a fight.   
  
But the fact that it activated by fingerprints wasn’t ideal, in his opinion. Tonight’s mission was more or less official business. They would wear their uniforms and act as Turks, sent to take out the dangerous supplies of a terrorist group. There was no need to hide that kind of activity, the fight against Avalanche was well known and the only reason they hadn’t requested some Soldiers to accompany them on their trip was that they could work faster and more effectively alone and requesting that kind of backup would have wasted valuable time Avalanche could have used to prepare for them.  
  
But these kinds of missions weren’t all they did, they weren’t even the largest part of their work. There were other things Shinra needed them to do that couldn’t be tied back as easily to their employer. Things for which they shrugged off their uniforms and slid into the shadows, careful to not reveal their identity. It was standard protocol to wear gloves during these kinds of missions, assuring the connection to the Turks was as hard to make as possible. On missions like these Jean’s fancy, fingerprint activated daggers wouldn’t help him anymore.  
  
So even though he appreciated the clever solution Connie had found there were two problems with his new equipment. One, his fingers had to be exposed and fingertips readable for him to use the daggers and two, what was even more impractical and downright dangerous, in order to recognize his fingerprints they had to be stored on the device directly. That was risky information should someone get their hands on his weapons. And as far as Jean could tell there was no mechanism that could wipe the data base in a case of emergency.   
  
So with the sun warm on his quickly typing fingers and the soft noise of Reno snoring behind him, Jean got to work.  
  
Not an hour later he heard some rustling as his colleague awoke from his nap, Jean looked up from the code he had been engrossed in and shot a glance over his shoulder, finding Reno smirking down at his phone and typing something before shoving it back into his pocket and stretching his arms over his head with a wide yawn.  
  
“So, I'm gonna pop out for a bit”, Reno mumbled, casually scratching his head as he squinted in the afternoon sunlight. “You be a good boy and stay here, yeah?”  
  
Jean scoffed, turning back to his laptop. He didn’t care where Reno spent his day, as long as he was back in time for their plans.  
  
“Sure. Something important came up?”  
  
“You could say that...”  
  
More rustling as Reno seemed to slide off the bed, a moment later there were light footsteps carrying him across the room and over to the window he peeked out of, letting out a pleased sound at whatever he saw down in the street. Jean tried not to care. But he was a naturally curious person and couldn’t help at least glance over to where Reno was standing. Of course he couldn’t quite see down into the street from his spot at the desk.  
  
“If you’d categorize a date as important.”  
  
Jean blinked, unsure if he should believe the words or call bullshit. On the other hand ... he didn’t deem it impossible for Reno to have found some pretty thing or another willing to help him spend a few hours in Junon. Huffing another annoyed breath he turned back to his code, even though his fingers wouldn’t continue their work just yet.  
  
“Whatever, just be back by 2100. It’s still quite the trip to get out to the warehouse”, he grumbled, feeling an urge to drag a hand down his tired face, maybe stretch a little himself. He was far from done with his project but the exhaustion was tugging at his limbs and Reno’s cheerfulness didn’t make it any better.  
  
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Rookie. I’ll be back.”  
  
Long fingers tousled his hair as Reno passed by behind him but before Jean could slap the hand away or voice even a word of protest the man had slipped out of the room and closed the door behind himself.  
  
Jean grumbled, dragging his own fingers through his messy strands but hesitating to place them back on the keyboard afterwards. He waited a few more beats, then got up from his chair and walked over to the window. There was a white limousine parked just outside the hotel but that wasn’t really a surprise. The place they had checked into was on the fancy side, fancier than Jean ever would have even dreamed of visiting a year ago, so of course there would be guests loaded enough to drive around in cars like that.   
  
But something about this one still felt weird, too familiar somehow. Humming a curious noise Jean opened the door to the balcony and stepped outside to get a better view, squinting down into the street. It didn’t take long at all for Reno to stroll out of the hotel, one hand casually stuffed into his pocket, the other raising a lit cigarette to his lips. He was headed right for the limousine.  
  
One of the doors opened, and Jean squinted harder, barely making out an arm clad in flowing white cloth and then Reno turned his head and looked up at him with a shit eating grin. The sunlight glinted on his goggles, caught in his flaming red hair and he raised the hand holding the cigarette higher, casually saluting up to him, before sliding into the limousine and slamming the door shut. The heavy noise carried all the way up to Jean’s balcony.   
  
Jean stood there for a moment longer, warm sun on his face and light breeze in his hair, breathing in the salty smell of the nearby ocean, and wondered if the person inside the limousine had really been who he thought they were. But that wasn’t possible, was it? It would be ridiculous.  
  
Taking one last, settling breath Jean decided to forget about it for now and go back to his project. Obsessing about this wouldn’t help him and if it still killed him tomorrow he could always just ask Reno. At least his superior hadn’t seemed too bothered by him having observed the scene. And yet…  
  
Shaking his head Jean settled back down at the desk but losing himself in the code was hard, when pale fingers and flowing white fabric wouldn’t leave his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was setting low on the horizon, turning the water’s surface into one glittering jewel that stretched on and on for miles, painting the walls of Jean’s hotel room with vibrant reds and oranges as he stared out across the endless expanse of the ocean.

But the breathtaking view couldn’t stave off his feelings of anxiety and creeping dread. Reno hadn’t returned yet, was already more than half an hour late.

This was the reason Jean shouldn’t have let him go. What if his superior had just fucked off with whoever had been in that limousine, leaving Jean to carry out this mission all on his own. They might not expect complications but there was a reason why Turks worked in teams of at least two. There was nobody to have his back if he headed out all on his own and no matter how well trained he was, if Avalanche stumbled over him like that he was done for.

Besides, Reno was the one taking care of the explosives, Jean couldn’t even do anything on his own if he didn’t literally break into his superior’s hotel room and…

“Now that’s a nice view”, came a low drawl from behind him and Jean whirled around, breath quick and shallow with his rising panic. Behind him in the doorway leading to Reno’s room stood his colleague, arms crossed casually and smirk lopsided on his face. His skin seemed to glow in the fiery shades of evening sunlight, his eyes trained on Jean.

“You already finished your little project?”

Jean wanted nothing more than to snap back with an answer that expressed all of his annoyance and pent up anger at the other man for making him wait like that, but the only thing that came to mind was a lame “And you, finished your ... date?” at which Reno just chuckled and shrugged, taking a step forward onto the balcony.

“It was cut a little short but I figured I shouldn’t give you a complete heart attack...”

Something about the words and that cursed smug tone made Jean’s patience snap entirely. There was only so much he could take and Reno had been tap dancing on his nerves for almost 24 hours by now.

“You know what? Fuck you!”, he hissed, arms crossing in a way he knew was too defensive but made him feel a little more stable. “I know you don’t take me seriously, nobody does, okay? But I got this job for a fucking reason and I wanna do it right! So I don’t care what you think about me or if you like me or how I do things. I just wanna get this done, because no matter what you think, I am not some helpless kid and I don’t need your bullshit all the time!”

A surprised blink as Reno’s smirk slowly melted. But he didn’t look annoyed or angry or even just upset. Instead the look that sparked to life in his eyes was a kind of distant fascination that made Jean’s skin crawl, no matter how hard his anger was twisting in his abdomen.

After a long pause Reno nodded but that spark didn’t quite disappear from his gaze.

“Alright”, he said, voice level and airy as his eyes flicked up and down Jean’s body. “Let’s get going.”

Jean decided to ignore the tone or that flare of unfair arousal at being looked at like that and turned to enter his room.

“I’m driving”, he declared before slamming the door shut and grabbing his prepared equipment.

~

Jean might not have known the first thing about flying helicopters or how to get even a single one of his colleagues on the mat during a sparring match but if there was something he was completely and absolutely confident in that didn’t have anything to do with the equipment in the back it was driving.

He loved the purr of a powerful machine under him, loved to curl his fingers around the steering wheel like he were touching a lover and making the engine howl for him. Some might have described his driving as reckless but Jean would rather call himself competent. After all, it was only recklessness if one couldn’t finish what had been started, if one overestimated the own ability to stay in control of the machine.

Jean never overestimated himself. He was just that good.

The rental car was a new model, not as nice as the hotel room would have lead him to believe but with enough power under the hood that he was grinning the moment he fired her up. Under his hands she came alive with a wild roar and even though he kept himself in check while they were cruising the dark streets of Junon, as soon as they had left the city’s bounds there was no holding him back.

The purr of the engine was smooth like aged whisky, had Jean breathing more easily as they zipped down twisting country roads and passed quiet little villages.

Reno didn’t say anything until Junon lay far behind them, merely a speck of bright city lights in the rear view mirror.

“Damn Rookie, you’re good at this...”, he drawled, body sprawled out in the front seat, completely relaxed no matter how fast they were going or how hard Jean took the numerous turns. There was no reason for him to be nervous, after all. Jean played the machine like a fiddle and finally being in control of something never felt this good.

“Surprised?”, he growled, twisting anger still remaining deep inside even though it was outweighed by a breathless satisfaction and covered up by the kind of laser focus that came to Jean in these kinds of moments, when it was just him and the howl of an engine ... and his smug colleague right beside him.

“A bit. I mean I’ve never seen you drive before, who knew you had it in you...” There was a grin in Reno’s voice, something hot and fascinated, just like there had been before, on the balcony. Jean was glad he had to keep his eyes on the road and had an excuse not to look at that expression again. “It’s really hot.”

“Shut up!” It came out harsher than expected, a hot burst of anger only fuelled by the distant, diffuse arousal still left from last night. He didn’t have to hear Reno say things like that, didn’t want to think about what his idiotic, confused attraction to this dangerous, dangerous man could mean.

But the reaction was too telling, too obvious. Reno must have picked up on it and Jean didn’t want to consider what he would do with that kind of information.

He took the next turn especially sharply, making Reno’s body jostle and bump into the door but the machine itself stayed in line, only swerving as far as Jean would allow it and with a tiny grin he accelerated even more. Even if he was losing control each and every time he was around Reno, if his normally so tight grip on words eluded him and even his body wouldn’t want to listen to his command anymore, this was something he would always be able to control. If everything else failed he could always count on his ability to manipulate machines to do his bidding.

There was an amused hum that made Jean’s heart trip but Reno stayed silent. Probably taking his time evaluating the information Jean had just given him so very easily. Then he turned to the window to watch the dark countryside fly by.

“We’re almost there”, Jean grunted much later, stepping off the gas as they started to close in on their point of interest. This dirt road would end right in front of an evidently abandoned warehouse.

The closer they got the more Jean calmed down, breathing evening out, hands relaxing on the wheel. Being pissed at Reno wouldn’t help him in this mission, they had to trust and depend on each other and he knew, no matter how much he didn’t like it, that Reno was the one in charge here, easily outranking him.

So no matter how long he still could have lost himself in anger, he had to tone it down and allow himself to settle into this role. After all, he wanted to do this job and he wanted to do it well. Accepting his superior’s command was just another part of that.

“Do you want me to leave the car on the side of the road and walk the last mile or two?”

“No”, Reno said and he sounded calm as well, settled and focused. Just as ready to leave everything else out of this for the time being, if only for the good of the mission.

“They’ll see us coming either way, might as well close in on them quickly.”

“Copy.”

Jean stepped on the gas again, shooting right down the straight road. Next to him Reno started arming himself, grabbing the EMR from his bag and fastening it to his belt, then slamming a fresh clip into one gun and stuffing it into his holster. He repeated the motions to prepare a second gun for Jean and slipped it into Jean’s holster.

The steel felt heavy and warm at his side, brimming with opportunity and imminent danger.

Their informant hadn’t been able to tell them about precise guard schedules or if there even were any. But not even an organisation as chaotic and directionless as Avalanche was stupid enough to leave an entire warehouse full of weapons unguarded at any hour of the day or night so it was better for them to act on the assumption that they might be encountering a welcome party. In that case they had to be prepared. But knowing his training at the shooting range might come in handy this quickly…

“Where are your daggers?”, Reno asked, still sounding so uncharacteristically level headed and calm that it made Jean shudder subtly but he replied with the same tone, so he shouldn’t be too surprised by the sudden switch.

“Front pocket of the backpack.”

Reno reached behind them again to retrieve the weapons, now stored in an inconspicuous little fabric pouch that could be clipped onto his belt as well. Without exchanging a word Reno fastened it to Jean who easily let him, his sole focus on the dark outline of a building in the distance.

“There it is”, he said, whole body starting to hum with a kind of expectant tension. Everything was dark but that didn’t mean the building wasn’t guarded. Beside him Reno let out a slow, steadying breath and rolled his shoulders.

“Good luck, Rookie. Don’t get yourself killed.”

“Right back at you.”

They were rapidly closing in on the building and in the shadows Jean could see movement, right in front of the main gate. Two silhouettes in the darkness. He could barely register them when they opened fire, sending a spray of bullets in their direction that barely caused the reinforced wind shield to crack. Of course Tseng had organized a safe ride for them.

Spurred on by adrenaline and the ridiculously high pinging sounds of helpless bullets against thick glass he pressed down on the gas and headed right for the silhouettes. His headlights carved two people out of the darkness, a lanky guy and a short, stocky woman who stared bewildered at the car, semi-automatic rifles grasped tightly between shaking hands. But Jean didn’t step down on the breaks as he got closer.

Instead he kept his course and didn’t slow down before the crash of an impact shook the vehicle as he ran over the guy, the woman barely able to jump to the side before getting caught up under the car herself.

“Nice”, Reno grunted before throwing his door open and rolling out of the still moving vehicle that was only now coming to a skittering halt, dust swirling in the harsh, cold headlights and pebbles spraying across the space in front of the warehouse, clinking against the underside and the body of the car. Jean winced slightly at the noise but didn’t dwell on it for two long.

He heard the staccato fire of a semi-automatic rifle, then the single, clear shot of Reno’s gun. The thump of a body slumping to the ground.

As the car finally came to a halt Jean threw his door open as well, fingers wrapping around the gun and pulling it from the holster as he jumped out of his seat, lighter on his feet than he should have been.

Not far from him stood Reno, gun lowered as he looked over the motionless body of the woman. Behind him was another pile, gasping for ragged breaths and twitching helplessly. The impact hadn’t been enough. A few paces to the right lay the rifle that had been knocked out of the man’s hands.

Before he could coordinate himself enough to reach for the weapon, if he should even still be able to move that much, Jean took a few confident steps forward, footfalls quietly crunching on the gravel as he aimed and pulled the trigger. The deafening bang of the gun whipped across the dark planes. The twitching stopped, the heaving gasps falling quiet.

It was a mercy, really.

Jean watched a glistening puddle form around the man’s head, almost black in the darkness, then looked up at Reno who was checking for a pulse on the woman. After a moment he raised a thumb and Jean retreated to fetch his equipment as well as the bag with explosives.

“That was good”, came the calm assessment of his superior as he reached inside the car to turn of the headlights. They didn’t have to make it too obvious they were here, considering the sheer visual range all around the building.

“Let me check for more guards while you set up your stuff”, reno said but didn’t disappear right away. Instead he reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a little earpiece, gesturing for Jean to do the same as he plugged it in place. Jean’s movements were practised and fluid as he followed the wordless command, clicking the small plastic piece into place while reaching into the car again to grab the straps of his backpack and pull it out. The earpiece was switched on with the simple press of a button.

“Stay in touch”, Reno smirked, the sound of his voice coming from Jean’s left where the man was standing and the right, where it sounded slightly distorted through the object tucked into the shell of Jean’s ear. Somehow the tinny reverberations made him sound even more cocky that he did anyway.

With that Reno vanished into the night, gun tucked safely away and instead grasping the hilt of his EMR tightly. Jean slung the backpack over his shoulder and looked around. It was eerily quiet, now that the constant hum of the engine had died down. All of the noise from before must have chased away any animals that were supposed to skitter around as well, there wasn’t as much as a cricket chirping.

Shaking off the strangely claustrophobic feeling he got as he regarded his surroundings Jean headed over to the main gate and set down his backpack. The gun was still grasped tightly in his right hand but he raised the left to place it against the wooden building, giving a light push. From up close the thing wasn’t nearly as inconspicuous as it had been on the satellite images. Yes, whatever was beneath had been panelled in weathered wood, but one touch and it was clear that there were layers of steel beyond, layers that wouldn’t creak or give, no matter how hard he pressed against them.

And even though the entry might look like some broken down barn door from afar, up close the barely hidden box to his right was more than telling. He pried away the wooden cover and revealed a control panel with a numeral pad and a hand print reader. Not the most sophisticated technology but probably the best Avalanche could get their grubby hands on.

For a moment Jean’s eyes trailed over to the two dark heaps of clothing that lay not too far off to the side, wondering if either of their hand prints might unlock the door. But he soon dismissed the thought. Even if they did, Avalanche would be very stupid if they didn’t set up some kind of remote surveillance to access when the door was opened, to detect any suspicious activities. Besides, he wasn’t keen on finding out what Reno might do if he told him they needed one of the guards’ hands…

So he decided to solve this issue on the way he had been planning to after all, powering up his laptop and quickly hooking it up to the control panel. It was just as he expected, a radio link would transmit information about when and how the doors were opened to a remote location. But the system was easy enough to override, granting them enough time to get in and plant the explosives without alerting whoever was watching over the feed at this time of day. After the armoury was destroyed it didn’t matter if Avalanche caught wind of their visit, it would be hard to hide, after all. As long as they could finish their job in peace though, they should be fine.

When a figure approached Jean from the right he twitched violently, gun flying up only to be slapped away the next moment as Reno ducked underneath it.

“Easy there”, came the soft hum that crackled quietly into his ear as Reno glanced down at the small screen of Jean’s laptop. Jean gasped out a breath, heart racing and hands trembling as he pried his finger away from the trigger.

“Fuck, I could have killed you...”

“Sure, Rookie.” It was a low, smug drawl that made Jean shiver for a whole other reason. “I couldn’t find any more guards, doesn’t seem like they expected our visit.”

“Good”, Jean nodded, breath still heavy as he stuffed his gun back into the holster and returned his attention to the laptop balanced on his knees. Rerouteing the transmitting systems had been a matter of moments, now all that was left was to run the prepared decryption program to unlock the door for them without alerting anyone.

“How’s it going?”, Reno asked, stepping around him to peek over his shoulder.

Jean knew that even though his superior wasn’t quite as well versed with these kinds of technology as himself, Reno was far from slow and would probably be able to follow him if he explained the procedure. But he was too close to cracking the system, not having the capacity to spare and so he just grunted as his program retrieved the hand print files.

And of course ... Jean licked his lips, shifting his weight slightly as he opened another window. It was just like it had been with his daggers, the ones Connie programmed before he adjusted them to fit his needs. If the locking mechanism made use of hand prints to open, there had to be some kind of data base storing those prints that granted access. Knowing Avalanche technology, that data base surely wasn’t too well protected and it should be relatively easily to swipe and gather information about the enemy before they destroyed the building.

Jean was already typing away again when the device on his knees gave a victorious little beep and something heavy and metallic clanged behind the door, pressure releasing with a hiss as the warehouse opened for them.

A hand came down on his shoulder, patting it encouragingly as Reno chuckled.

“Good work, Rookie.”

There was the rustle of fabric and the clang of boxes being jostled as Reno grabbed the bag with the prepared explosives and slung it over his shoulder but Jean tried to tune it out as best he could as he worked his way deeper into the mechanisms and systems the control panel granted him access to.

“You coming?”, Reno asked as he stepped up to the door and pushed it open with some effort. The insides of the warehouse were even darker than the night around them and so his superior pulled out a small flash light and clicked it on, shining it into the depths of the building. Nothing seemed to move inside.

“Give me some more time, I think I might be able to pull some valuable information from their data base before we blow all of this up”, Jean mumbled, hooking up his decryption program once again to the secured hard drive he suspected the data he was looking for to be stored on.

It didn’t seem like it was detachable and he didn’t know what would happen if he tried to disassemble the thing to take the hardware with him and analyse it back at the hotel. So he didn’t risk the data base wiping itself clean and instead took his time to crack it in a more elegant, reliable way.

“You can go ahead and get everything prepared, I won’t be long.”

Reno only hesitated for a moment, gaze sweeping between the dark, quiet warehouse and Jean crouching on the ground in front of it, before he nodded.

“Alright, I’ll stay in touch.”

Jean acknowledged the words with a quick “Copy” before turning his full attention back to his laptop. The hard drive proved a little more difficult to crack than the actual doors had, which made sense on the one hand, if it actually stored sensitive information, but was also strange. One would think a good chunk of Avalanche’s entire armoury would be just as well protected as some hand prints, right?

Jean was still frowning about that when he heard a thumping noise and soon after a quiet beep through the connection.

“Explosive at L One in position”, came the curt information across the connection and Jean hummed his confirmation. He was close to breaking the data base wide open but his current program couldn’t quite cut it so he exchanged it for another one that had to start from the beginning. Grumbling quietly to himself he set it up, then tried another approach while it ran through in the background.

Why wouldn’t they use the same measures of security all throughout the system? Why protect some parts of it more than others? Cutting the transmission cycle and setting up a decoy had been child’s play and even though the data base encryption wasn’t as sophisticated as it could have been and ultimately posed no match to Jean, it was still way more complicated than anything he would have expected after opening the doors so easily.

“Explosive at L Two in position.”

“Copy.”

A beat of silence as Jean chewed on his lip, tried yet another approach.

“How is that intel hunt coming along?” The tone was way too chipper considering Reno was deep into the enemy’s armoury planting bombs at the moment, but Jean was used to that, so he just shrugged.

“Slowly”, he mumbled even though his current approach seemed to yield some results and he slowly started chipping away at the system’s defences. Was there really just hand prints on there? But what else could it be and, most interestingly, why should there be anything else?

“You better hurry up. Once I got the last one in place we’ll have ten minutes to get out of here.”

“I can do it in five.”

He had barely said it as the security finally buckled and gave in, opening up to reveal dozens of electronic folders that Jean quickly copied onto his own device. As they transferred he clicked into some of them, checking out the contents.

There were hand prints, as expected. Information they could use to identify and possibly find Avalanche members. There was also a list of all the weapons stashed away in the warehouse, information on when they had been delivered, what had been withdrawn and by whom.

And then there was a login profile detailing exactly when the building had been last accessed and by whom, how long they had taken, what they had done.

The latest information was incomplete though. According to the list the doors had been opened mere minutes before their arrival but there was no logout time.

“Reno”, Jean hissed as soon as his mind made the jump to what exactly that meant for them. “There’s probably someone still in the warehouse. Maybe more than one person, they arrived shortly before we did. So if the guards didn’t fuck around and opened the gate for fun then we still have company.”

A stifled curse, a metallic clatter, a breathless grunt. Jean’s heartbeat slowed down for seconds before it slammed back into his ribs. Those were not good noises. A tiny, petulant part of his mind protested as he slipped the laptop off his lap and left it there in front of the building, unprotected, but helping out his partner was way more important than whatever hardware could be easily replaced, more important even than the information he was currently copying. So Jean jumped to his feet and sprinted into the darkness of the warehouse without a second thought.

His fingers fumbled as he tried to pry away the small flash light from his belt, squinting into the darkness but unable to see anything at all, eyes still too accustomed to the soft blue glow of his screens. There was a little pin prick of light at the far side of the building, the source lying on the floor pointing into the direction of the wall but it was impossible to tell anything else.

Finally Jean clicked on his own flash light and shone it into the depths of the warehouse as his feet were carrying him deeper, the other hand clutching his gun and keeping it pointed forward.

There was a symphony of grunting and shuffling in his ear, the rustle of fabric and heavy footsteps and then there was Reno’s voice, breathless and accompanied by the electric zapping sound of his EMR:

“At L Three, two assailants, armed. Get your ass here.”

Jean breathed an acknowledgement and picked up his pace, more steady on his feet now that he could see where he was running. If Reno was actively requesting back-up then this might get ugly.

He was an excellent combatant but it had sounded like the two Avalanche members had caught him off guard and at least partly disarmed him. Otherwise there would have been shots.

But did that mean that the assailants also didn’t have fire arms? He couldn’t know that, couldn’t accept that as truth just because he hadn’t heard anything pointing towards that yet.

Jean sprinted down rows upon rows of metal shelves high enough to graze the ceiling far above, stacked almost fully with stolen weapons. Countless fire arms, handguns and sniper rifles and sub machine guns, crates upon crates filled with ammunition and grenades and other kinds of explosives, experimental tech that Jean recognized from his visits to the other departments, tech that could only be stolen from ShinRa directly.

They had to take this place out, couldn’t risk Avalanche turning all of this against them and two idiots crazy enough to attack a Turk on the job sure wouldn’t stop them.

Jean passed the first explosive Reno had installed right next to a support beam, then the second. The longer the warehouse stretched on the more tense he felt, like journeying deep into a winding cave he might never make it out of again. But there was no time to dwell on that feeling, he could only push the creeping tension aside and focus on his goal.

The closer he got the clearer he could see in the dim illumination of the dropped flash light. There was a fight going on, red hair flying with every motion as Reno ducked and swerved around his attackers, almost as if he were dancing. He was too fast for them to grasp and yet he didn’t quite get the chance for a counter attack, too busy dodging the blows of the two guys who didn’t look much taller than him but a lot heavier and stronger.

Jean tried to take aim but he couldn’t get a clear shot with all of the scuffling going on so he decided to get even closer before trying his luck.

When he wanted to move in and actually join the fight something heavy slammed into him and knocked him sideways. The towering line of stocked metal shelves tilted and Jean could barely curl up to protect his head before he crashed into the hard ground, flash light clattering away and gun smacked out of his hand to skitter far into the darkness.

He tried to roll away but there where hands already at his lapels, pushing him over to slam his back into the unforgiving concrete ground. Jean could swear he heard something in his shoulders crack and his breath stopped for a moment, but then his eyes flew back open and he looked up at his attacker.

It was a young woman, younger than him, with the same desperation in her eyes that a wild animal might show when being cornered. Her blond, dishevelled hair fell around her shoulders as she stared down at him but the hands grasping him were empty. She wasn’t armed.

“I can't let you do this”, she hissed in a flighty panic, jumping up to put a knee on his chest and press down with her entire body weight. It wasn’t much but it still made breathing almost impossible. "They’re good people I can’t let you hurt them!"

The hunted desperation in her voice was different from the burning fury Jean knew from his encounters with other Avalanche members. It was easier when they hated him and what he stood for. But he couldn’t spare her just because she was different.

So he took just a second to catch his breath and feel out his body. Nothing seemed to be broken even though his wrist was throbbing and there was a dull, stabbing pain in his ribs as she pressed down. But he could reach the pouch with his daggers easily enough in the position she had him pinned, fingers inching down slowly and retrieving one of the cylindrical shapes. At the rhythmical press of his fingers the blades flicked out with a barely audible sound, the weight of them feeling good in his hand. Right.

Before the young woman could do anything else he was bucking underneath her, throwing her off easily and slicing at one of the arms still stretched out towards him. He grazed her forearm, opening skin and making her yelp and jump back from him. She obviously wasn’t well trained, maybe this was her first time out in the field and she definitely had not expected it would come to this tonight.

But she still jumped back into a battle stance as Jean got to his feet, dark blood dripping down her arm where Jean had nicked her. It glistened in the low light that had skittered off to the side.

Jean didn’t give her much time to regain her balance and jumped forward immediately, taking another stab at her. She was fast, dodging him with ease, just as Reno had yesterday. Only that she was smaller by far and not as strong. An easier opponent than his superior, even though she did manage to hold her ground for quite a while, getting in a few well aimed punches that left him wheezing at times.

She even managed to sweep at his legs and had him stumbling to regain his balance long enough to shove him back to the ground but once they were down again it was easy for Jean to regain control and climb on top of her. The way he shoved his knee against her chest was a perfect after image of how they had ended up the round before, only that this time it was him coming out victorious, pressing an already bloodied blade to the tanned, unmarred skin of her delicate throat.

An oppressive silence fell around them as a shadow approached and Jean took a shallow breath, as if scared to make too much noise, then slowly looked up. Above them stood Reno, uniform rumpled and torn in places, red hair falling open over one shoulder, switched off EMR tapping rhythmically against his own thigh. Behind him lay the two attackers from before, motionless heaps illuminated strangely by the dropped flash light close by.

“Kill her”, he said, voice still a little breathless but level and void of any emotion.

Jean felt his heart drop, eyes flicking back down to the young woman who was panting underneath him, her gaze still wild with pure panic. She wasn’t dangerous, barely more than a scared child, and yet she had gotten herself tangled up in the affairs of an all out terrorist group.

A quiet noise as Reno walked closer, stepped over her body to bend over Jean’s back, placed a hand on his shoulder. His voice was barely more than a breath yet carrying a frightening heat as he spoke again.

“Attack like you mean it. Don’t stop before it's over.”

Now that he said it, repeated the words, Jean recognized the twisted kind of mirrored position he was in, not just to earlier but also to last night. How he’d had Reno just like this merely a day ago and yet been beaten again. But Reno was a trained, battle experienced Turk and this woman was defenceless against the two men towering above her.

The hand moved up from his shoulder to slide along his neck and into his hair, a caress that was way too sensual and intimate for a moment like this. Jean felt goosebumps race down his arms as hot breath puffed against his ear, soft lips barely grazing the shell as Reno spoke, like a lover whispering some kind of erotic secret:

“No witnesses, Jean...”

He was right. Jean had wanted to prove he was capable of the job. Well, this was part of it.

The blade, sharp and deadly as it was, sliced into the skin of her neck like a hot knife through butter. Deep red blood welling up and splashing against his fingers as Jean drew the dagger from one side to the other, cutting deep into her defenceless throat.

Right next to his ear Reno hummed, a noise that spoke of utter satisfaction and maybe something else as he watched Jean’s hand move. For some reason it was that one noise that was the most prominent to Jean, that noise and the warm hand gripping his hair. Not her gasping, desperate breaths as he held her twitching body still, not the feeling of her slowly falling lax beneath him or the sharp stench of urine in the air.

It was Reno’s presence that grounded him through the bloody execution, Reno’s hands pulling him upright and back towards the gate, lighting the way with a flash light he had picked up, guiding Jean as he stumbled through the darkness, dazed and dizzy with what he had done.

Of course Jean had killed before. It was part of the work, just an annoying detail of the job. But those had been bullets, quick and merciful. Not this unbearably intimate cutting of flesh, not the feeling of hot blood pouring out onto his hands.

He was still dizzy and slightly nauseous when Reno manoeuvred him into the passenger’s seat and packed up the equipment for him. He was still dizzy when his superior slammed the heavy metal gate closed, shutting in the three lifeless bodies they had left behind. And he was still dizzy when Reno was in the driver’s seat, confidently steering them down the dirt road again as a booming explosion behind them gave them a clear sign that their mission had been an utter success and Avalanche’s once impressive armoury was no more.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time they had made it back to the hotel Jean had caught himself somewhat, gotten the chance to wind down with the endless, gentle purr of the engine and the soft, controlled noises of Reno driving, shifting gears and humming some kind of tune or another now and again. His quiet presence was oddly soothing, just as it had been earlier, on the cold concrete of the warehouse floor…

Sure hands still steadied him when he walked into his hotel room. He didn’t need them anymore, could hold his own weight again by now, and yet Jean didn’t shrug them off, didn’t protest against their touch when Reno slid off his uniform jacket with deft fingers and dropped it carelessly on the ground.

Deep red blood had soaked into the white shirt underneath, plastering the fabric to his forearms in an uncomfortable manner, but all Jean could do was stare at the dark stains in his uniform, on his hands. His fingers were caked in dried blood, rusty red cracking open across his palms, the movement of brittle flakes breaking off mesmerizing as he watched them float down and land on the soft, grey carpet.

“Come on”, Reno hummed as he directed Jean over to the adjacent bathroom. His touch felt way too good, grounding him in this absurd reality where the blood of a frightened young girl was quite literally on his hands.

It was so much easier to focus on Reno, the scent of his sweat and traces of too sharp cologne, tangs of metal and cigarette smoke and a roaring wildfire, as he leaned in close, pushing Jean back against the closed door as pale fingers worked to open the buttons of his shirt. The press of warm fingers through thin fabric, then the slide of rough palms against his chest and stomach when Reno pushed the shirt aside.

Jean wasn’t sure what he was doing, if he was checking for injuries or just wanted to grope a little, but it didn’t really matter all that much when the contact made his heart jump and his cock throb and his mind scatter.

“That’s gonna bruise”, came the neutral assessment as curious fingers prodded at his ribs but there was a smirk on Reno’s face, something amused, almost satisfied as he looked down at Jean’s injury. Then he pressed harder, causing a sharp inhale and grinning even wider, a wild fascination in his eyes as he watched Jean’s face.

“Is it broken?”, Jean asked, partly just to say anything, to take part in whatever was happening right now and Reno hummed, pressed again. The pain flared up, made Jean gasp but he didn’t shake the touch off, didn’t buck or try to twist out of Reno’s hold.

Maybe this pain was the least he deserved.

“No.”

If Jean didn’t know better he would say it sounded … disappointed. But before he could frown and comment on that tone those clever fingers dipped lower and hooked in the hem of his dress pants, pulling his hips forward.

“Hey! What...”, Jean protested but his words were silenced by a quiet but determined little “Shhhh” as Reno pressed one pale, warm finger to his lips, tapping them almost lovingly.

“We need to get you cleaned up, Rookie. Be a good little assassin and keep quiet.”

Jean blinked, lips pursing in distaste against the finger still tapping against them. But his body betrayed them when his hips shifted forward, making it easy for Reno to flick the belt open and unbutton the pants.

There was quiet, curious fascination at the back of his mind, watching the events unfold from a distance. Wondering why he didn’t do anything when his pants where pushed down his thighs and easily dropped the rest of the way, why he didn’t protest when Reno hooked both thumbs in the hem of his boxer shorts and tugged his hips even closer.

“There we go”, he grinned as he pushed them lower as well, regarding Jean’s half hard cock with a hungry twinkle in his eyes. “You like being a good boy, don’t you. Like following orders and being bossed around. Getting your ass kicked. Being told where to go and what to do...”

Jean shivered, trying to blame it on the cold air of the bathroom against his bare skin, even though the warm fingers pressing into his hipbones as Reno grabbed him were very distracting.

“What … what are you talking about?”, he bit out but still didn’t pull away, still allowed those fingers to send shivers down his back as they slid up to wrap around his waist. “I’m just doing my job.”

“And you’re doing it so well...”, Reno purred with a wide, dangerous grin full of teeth, then leaned forward to brush his cheek against Jean’s in a distractingly gentle touch. The scrape of his stubble was enough to send an excited tingle through his body and Jean let out a low noise, grinding his teeth against the urge to reach out and bury his fingers in the rumpled fabric of Reno’s uniform, yank him closer to slot their bodies together. There was too much space between them and not enough. Not enough by far, considering the outrageous reality of what they were doing.

Reno let out a breath, making sure it tickled right against the sensitive skin of Jean’s ear before he spoke again.

“Get in the shower.”

Then he stepped back and turned away, his attention on fiddling with his cufflinks as he ignored Jean completely.

Jean’s skin was cold, missing the burning touch of those fingers the moment they had left him but he squashed down the urge to reach out and simply passed Reno on the way to the shower. Shrugging his ruined shirt off and pulling the door open, stepping inside. Following the command. Because he saw no reason not to. And because … because he liked it. Maybe.

The water was cold when Jean first turned it on but he bit back his surprised squeal, all too aware of Reno’s presence in the room, soothing and aggravating at the same time. But it warmed up quickly enough, soon fogging up the clear glass walls.

The warm water felt good beating down on his tense muscles and Jean closed his eyes with a quiet sigh, tipping his head back and running his hands through his hair. That was when he remembered, felt the dried blood catch in his blond strands and yanked his hands away, blinked his eyes open with a sudden burst of returning panic.

The water swirling into the drain was stained red, steady stream chipping away at the evidence of what he had done. Jean took a shuddering breath, tried to rub his hands together to help the process along and then heard the shower door open behind him.

A gust of cold air hit his unprotected backside and he shivered, but then the door closed again, the space quickly warming up with the steam from the shower.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”, came Reno’s voice, close and intimate above the rush of shower water, of Jean’s own blood in his ears. Then there were hands cupping his and a tall, warm body pressing against him from behind. Reno’s pointy chin hooking over his shoulder as the man looked down at their intertwined hands.

“Not really...”, Jean choked out, unsure what to do but knowing he wouldn’t fight this either. The touch was already exciting him, already leaving him trembling and hot as he leaned back into the steadying presence cooing into his ear.

“Oh, it is … it shows just how capable you are. How strong and...”

“I didn’t have to be strong to kill her”, Jean protested, voice brittle and eyes trained on pale, elegant fingers sliding between his. “It was easy, she was a child. Just a scared child and I...”

“A child who worked for Avalanche. A child who would have planted bombs and terrorized civilians in the future. You did the right thing taking her out. They don’t need more young, impressionable soldiers for their sick cause.”

When Reno said it like that, without even a hint of teasing seduction, just neutral fact whispered into his ear, it was far more convincing than anything Jean could have told himself. He was right, she would have killed in the future. Killed civilians, Soldiers. Turks.

His fingers squeezed tight around Reno’s, pulling those arms close around him as he shivered and didn’t say anything, didn’t know what to reply to that.

“It was your first real kill, wasn’t it?”, Reno hummed and there it was again, that low tone, the soft, seductive drawl that made Jean shiver for a whole reason. He shifted and felt Reno’s stiff cock rub up against his ass. The feeling made him throb, lick his lips.

“I’ve killed before”, he forced out, voice just a little breathless as he watched gentle but sure hands rub the dried blood from his fingers. “You’ve seen me do it.”

“Mhhh yeah … but that was different, wasn’t it?”

The purr was so low and hot it made Jean throb despite the topic, made his treacherous cock jump and his heart thud against his ribcage.

“I told you, anyone can handle a gun. But to have someone underneath you as you drain the life from them, the way they twitch, how you can feel them getting weaker under your hands … that’s so much better, isn’t it? Gives you a real rush...”

Jean wanted to protest, wanted to push him away, shout at him how the last thing he’d felt killing her had been pleasure even though … that wasn’t quite right, was it? He might not have enjoyed the act itself, not immediately at least, but the way Reno had touched him so softly, standing behind him, guiding his terrible actions with a few, whispered words…

“You’re sick...”, he spat because he couldn’t admit any of that, couldn’t let Reno know even though the man most likely already did, what with the way he was reading people and Jean especially. But his pride wouldn’t allow him to voice his twisted feelings, the strange pull he had felt right beneath the nausea. The deep seated acceptance that he would do it again and again if only Reno whispered at him to do it once more…

A low, amused laugh that made his cock jump and left something deep in his abdomen throbbing.

“So are you, Jean. You gotta be to do this job, didn’t anyone tell you?”

A pause.

The water flowing down the drain ran clear once more, his hands and forearms freed of the girl’s blood. The warmth of Reno’s body in his back, the press of his cock against his ass, those deft fingers still intertwined with his, all of it felt way too good, too perfect for Jean to ignore and those words…

“I’m not like you.”

A gentle nudge of a nose against his cheek. Jean followed the wordless demand and turned his head so he could look at Reno, look at those pale, sparking eyes and the amused tilt of thin lips.

“Not yet”, Reno whispered and leaned forward just far enough to barely brush his lips against Jean’s, hovering there in this not quite kiss.

And maybe it was a sudden bout of insanity or his lack of sleep finally catching up with him or just a complete culmination of everything this man had put him through during the last day but Jean swept forward and closed the remaining distance, pressed their lips together in a real, crushing kiss.

It felt perfect in all the wrong ways. Perfect how Reno returned the kiss like he had never expected another kind of outcome, perfect how that tongue slipped between his lips, tasting of smoke and fire and death, perfect how a hand came up, long fingers wrapping around his jaw and tilting his head back even more, until it was resting against Reno’s bony shoulder, opening up enough space for Reno to deepen the kiss, his entire body at the man’s mercy.

Jean could see it clearly, could watch himself in slow motion from the curious, detached part of his mind, could follow the steps of his own surrender, his willing descent into madness.

Because what was this if not absolute madness?

It wasn’t enough that Reno was his mission partner and direct superior, let alone the most dangerously unhinged, violently volatile person he had ever met. That really should have kept him away, especially paired with the smug mockery of his every step and the creeping feeling that the man had something planned for him. Maybe since he’d jumped at Jean last night, maybe since the moment they met.

But nothing was enough, none of these facts could make his traitorous dick lose interest, could make is heart stop skipping whenever those fingers brushed against his skin.

He should have stopped this the moment Reno steered him into the hotel room, at the latest when the man started to undress him and yet ... here he was, lips and tongue and teeth and fingers and the steady noise of rushing water and blood in his ears…

A sharp bite to his lower lip made him yelp and strain even harder, back arching and chest heaving. Clever fingers untangled from his grasp and slid lower, elegantly wrapping around his cock and giving it a few languid strokes. They parted and Reno let out a low chuckle against his lips, not letting up with the slow motion of his fingers, not letting go of Jean’s jaw either.

“You act all disgusted and appalled but your dick makes it so easy for me to know what you really want...”

A tight squeeze, a flick of the wrist, an absolutely unfair twist around the head and Jean was shaking apart, moaning so loudly he couldn’t even protest anymore. If he could have he sure would ... wouldn’t he?

“Don’t even try, Rookie. I can feel how hard it makes you, how you get off on me ripping your clothes off and telling you what a good little murderer you are...”

“Sh-Shut up...”, he forced out, voice wavering and body twitching with each slow, luxurious stroke up his straining length. Reno laughed, low and terrifying.

“See, I would ... If I actually thought you wanted me to.”

“Reno...”

“But I think you want me to keep going, isn’t that right? Want me to tell you how hot you are when you’re slicing someone open, how good blood looks on you. How perfectly pliant you are after a nice, intense kill...”

The fingers wrapped around his jaw yanked his head back, stretching his neck so his head was tilted over Reno’s shoulder, Adam’s apple bobbing hard as he swallowed.

“How perfect your hands looked around her little throat as she was bleeding out under you. How irresistible you are when you don’t want to admit to yourself just how much you enjoyed my gift...”

Jean shuddered, gasped, droplets of hot water beating down on his upturned face. Gift?

He was struggling to make sense of Reno’s words, a large part of him violently rejecting the mere notion of what the Turk was talking about but then again it seemed like his own body was betraying him, cock throbbing and straining between Reno’s fingers the more horrible words he whispered into Jean’s ear.

Then there was another low chuckle as warm, wet lips pressed against his cheek and Jean gasped as it all fell together.

It had been Reno who had taken away the gun he had become so well acquainted with these past weeks. Reno who had shown him the daggers and how to wield them, Reno who had made them even more interesting to him with all kinds of techy gimmicks he could play with, who made him _want_ to use them. Reno ... who had whispered to him to kill her right then and there, driving him to slice her throat open and let her bleed out on that warehouse floor.

“Oh, Jean...”, Reno whispered so very sweetly, his silken voice wrapping around Jean’s name like a lover’s kiss, “there are so many things I could show you...”

That, of all things, finally did it.

Jean’s breath hitched, his fingers helplessly scrambling against wet skin as his muscles contracted, spasmed, and he came. Crushing, achingly sweet waves of pleasure rolled over him as his mind was helpless to watch himself give in.

Some distant, analytical part of himself, the one that had pierced Reno’s strange hints together, knew that this was all just part of some grand show. All the soothing and heated touches, the warm praise, the deep kiss, the loving words. It was all part of whatever perverted plan Reno had for him. But at that moment, shivering and moaning and caught in the high of his orgasm, Jean just couldn’t bring himself to care.

Reno stroked him through it, movements of his hand barely speeding up as he squeezed wave after wave of come out of Jean, purring fake encouragement and sweet words all he way through.

When it was over Jean slumped back against him, trusting the man to hold him up even after everything that had happened. The exhaustion of the day weighing him down.

Finally the grasp on his jaw loosened and Jean found enough strength in himself to twist away and break at least that hold on him, turning his head to look to the side.

“You know, Reno”, he breathed, unsure if his voice was even heard over the steady stream of water, “I really, really hate you.”

With that he found his own footing and managed to untangle himself, Reno’s arms pulling back easily to let him go as Jean twisted around to stare him down.

The Turk looked different like that, usually wild hair plastered to his head, pale body bare and flushed and way too gorgeous. Jean shifted, crossed his arms even though it must have made him look like a petulant child. But the spell between them was broken and his rightful suspicion, his healthy paranoia about the man across from him returned with familiar intensity.

He could still make this right, still take a step back and keep Reno from entangling him even further in whatever this was.

“And I don’t care what you think you can teach me. I don’t want to learn anything else from you.”

The resolve in his voice crumbled a little when Reno reached out at that and Jean flinched. But all the Turk did was turn off the hot water still beating down on them. Then he settled back again, nodding slowly as he regarded Jean.

“Nothing else”, he repeated thoughtfully, eyes slowly raking up and down Jean’s body in the way that made Jean’s skin crawl and something in his abdomen twist.

“Nothing.” The firm word was accompanied by a sure nod that left Jean hoping it seemed as confident as he wanted it to. But his resolve became even more brittle when Reno raised two fingers and licked them in a move that looked like it was straight out of some porno.

“Not even if it involves, say ... these fingers and your prostate and me making you come again, only this time hard enough you black out?”

Jean felt his knees buckle and hoped to Gaia his sudden weakness wasn’t too obvious. For the first time since he’d turned around he lost his grip enough to let his eyes flick down Reno’s body, to where his cock was still standing stiff and ready. It was gorgeous, nice and long, flushed a deep pink and curved just slightly. It would hit him in all the right places if he…

“Come on, don’t gotta like me to let me blow your mind...”, Reno coaxed and fuck, he was right. Jean already felt the arousal tug hard on his insides again, even though his cock wasn’t quite ready yet. But he was sure Reno could fix that faster than he would have ever deemed possible just an hour ago.

He didn’t have to trust Reno, he didn’t even have to like him to allow himself this little bit of rest and relaxation after a day that had been utterly exhausting and downright terrifying at times. If Reno wanted to take care of him in a strictly physical way, why shouldn’t they indulge in each other?

If the man’s touch could keep the swirling darkness around the edges of his vision and the creeping guilt at bay, if his dirty whispers could quiet down the voices of Jean’s own mind, why shouldn’t he make use of that distraction to tide himself over?

As long as Jean stayed aware just who he was messing around with, if he was the one staying in control and using Reno for his own gains, then nothing could hurt him.

Or at least that was the justification he gave that tiny, analytical part of his mind when he stepped forward and pressed his lips against Reno’s once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr](https://fenfyre.tumblr.com/) or my [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/fenfyre)


End file.
